This is a short comment about the state of the Tour of Missouri.
How bad at math do you have to be to miss this point?: The event costs the state's tourism budget $1.7M but brings in an estimated $60M in economic impact.
Now, I know that the Super Bowl inflates the hell out of their economic impact numbers. It's obvious.
But even if we cut the ToM numbers in half and say that it brought in $30M in tourism dollars, that's still more than $17 to every $1 the State spends.
Check my public education math skills for me. I think that's right.
Show me (to steal their state motto) another investment that can give a return of 17 to 1.
And if Sir Lance decides to race in Missouri this year, look OUT. Those numbers will spike much higher.
Unfortunately, he'll have to make that announcement in the net few days because it sounds like Governor Nixon is about to kill the Tour of Missouri after just two years on the map.
I missed the first Tour of Missouri for reasons I still can't remember. I worked at the 2008 event and found it to be a totally different feel than the Amgen Tour and the Tour de Georgia. This one was a great time with good crowds and great racing.
If I hear that St. Louis/Kansas City is bidding on the Super Bowl, I'm going to organize a march on Jeff City. Someone please tell them that cycling is the best bargain in sports.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
What it was was softball.
I was in a nondescript chain restaurant (that's redundant, I know) a few nights ago when a group of grown men came in wearing matching pajamas. Seriously, I thought they were PJs. As it turns out, they were softball uniforms.
For all the grief that Roadies catch for wearing what we wear, and we DO catch hell, softball uniforms are 100% dork-o-matic. Some of these guys had on what appeared to be sliding pads in the knees and thighs.
Sliding pads? Really? Are you Ricky Freaking Henderson tearing into second base? How fast are you going? 8?
They had numbers on their jerseys. As if remembering all 10 of their names would be impossible. As if their legions of fans would only be able to identify them out on the field by the number on their back. Because certainly, the guy with the big gut and the cigarette in his mouth could be any number of players. But the #10 on his back clears that up for us. It's Dennis.
I also believe that we should test them for Performance Enhancing Drugs such as Motrin and Advil because I'll bet, if they're anything like their professional counterparts, that 90% of them are using.
They arrive at 7:3pm on Tuesday night and go through extensive preparation for their 8:00pm game. It consists of throwing the ball to another guy 10 or 12 times.
I'm sorry. Slo-pitch softball, as a game, is a great way to get out in the sunshine and have some fun. It's an easy game. There's nothing challenging about it. Even when the pitcher puts a diabolical spin on the ball when he pitches it underhand, it's still hit-able.
You know what the hardest part about being a slo-pitch softball player is?
Breaking the news to your parents that you're gay.
I've played softball before, but I've never had trouble walking the next day.
The fact that grown ups still dress up and parade around in public in those ridiculous pajamas is the most astounding notion in sports, leisure, and recreation.
And I'm not so sure it fits in the sports category.
For all the grief that Roadies catch for wearing what we wear, and we DO catch hell, softball uniforms are 100% dork-o-matic. Some of these guys had on what appeared to be sliding pads in the knees and thighs.
Sliding pads? Really? Are you Ricky Freaking Henderson tearing into second base? How fast are you going? 8?
They had numbers on their jerseys. As if remembering all 10 of their names would be impossible. As if their legions of fans would only be able to identify them out on the field by the number on their back. Because certainly, the guy with the big gut and the cigarette in his mouth could be any number of players. But the #10 on his back clears that up for us. It's Dennis.
I also believe that we should test them for Performance Enhancing Drugs such as Motrin and Advil because I'll bet, if they're anything like their professional counterparts, that 90% of them are using.
They arrive at 7:3pm on Tuesday night and go through extensive preparation for their 8:00pm game. It consists of throwing the ball to another guy 10 or 12 times.
I'm sorry. Slo-pitch softball, as a game, is a great way to get out in the sunshine and have some fun. It's an easy game. There's nothing challenging about it. Even when the pitcher puts a diabolical spin on the ball when he pitches it underhand, it's still hit-able.
You know what the hardest part about being a slo-pitch softball player is?
Breaking the news to your parents that you're gay.
I've played softball before, but I've never had trouble walking the next day.
The fact that grown ups still dress up and parade around in public in those ridiculous pajamas is the most astounding notion in sports, leisure, and recreation.
And I'm not so sure it fits in the sports category.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Middle of the Race
What does it mean when you're well into a race and you think you're farther into it than you actually are?
Let me explain.
Thursday's race was a timed event lasting two hours. There was no visible clock telling us the current run time, just a guy standing at the S/F periodically holding up a sheet of paper at ten minute intervals. If you happen to be paying attention to it, you'll be hip to the amount of time remaining. However, I noticed that the guy only holds up the placard while the front of the pack goes by. By the time the back of the pack was going past him, he was tucking it back into the notebook (as if the pack of riders only had eyes at the front like it were a living animal, or as if the riders would share the information amongst the group). Now I'll admit that there were times during this race that I would be sitting at the back of the pack trying desperately to recover. It's not against the law to sit at the back. Don't give me grief about punching tickets, tail-gunning, carrying the lantern rouge, or otherwise sitting in. I was racing. Some.
Well, after a good bit of racing, I expected the time placard to tell us that we had about 20 minutes left. I mean, the sun was going down, it was getting late, I was completely knackered. It had to be almost over, right? So I was surprised (not pleasantly) to come through the S/F area and notice the placard: 60 minutes left! Holy crap!
So does this mean that I'm out of shape and struggling? In over my head? Or does it mean that time is twisted and distorted in a race?
I really hope it's the latter.
Let me explain.
Thursday's race was a timed event lasting two hours. There was no visible clock telling us the current run time, just a guy standing at the S/F periodically holding up a sheet of paper at ten minute intervals. If you happen to be paying attention to it, you'll be hip to the amount of time remaining. However, I noticed that the guy only holds up the placard while the front of the pack goes by. By the time the back of the pack was going past him, he was tucking it back into the notebook (as if the pack of riders only had eyes at the front like it were a living animal, or as if the riders would share the information amongst the group). Now I'll admit that there were times during this race that I would be sitting at the back of the pack trying desperately to recover. It's not against the law to sit at the back. Don't give me grief about punching tickets, tail-gunning, carrying the lantern rouge, or otherwise sitting in. I was racing. Some.
Well, after a good bit of racing, I expected the time placard to tell us that we had about 20 minutes left. I mean, the sun was going down, it was getting late, I was completely knackered. It had to be almost over, right? So I was surprised (not pleasantly) to come through the S/F area and notice the placard: 60 minutes left! Holy crap!
So does this mean that I'm out of shape and struggling? In over my head? Or does it mean that time is twisted and distorted in a race?
I really hope it's the latter.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
A Race Story
A year ago, I was writing about the loss of a close friend, an insider, a real chew-the-fat kind of friend: my gall bladder. (You see, the gall bladder helps digest fat. Oh yeah, that's hilarious.)
This time around, I actually made it to the event and had a blast.
The Clarendon Cup on Saturday and the USAF Classic on Sunday.
Real quick story about the USAF event: you know when you see the Air Force jets do a fly-over precisely at the end of the National Anthem? How do they do that? Let me tell you. Once you know the time that the jet will hit "the mark", you back-time from there. Sound simple? Don't kid yourself.
Long story short, we nailed the fly-over. It was a beautiful thing. And the Air Force Memorial is worth visiting.
The OTHER event on the weekend was the Clarendon Cup in which the wildest story unfolded in the Pro race.
Chad Gerlach (whose story that you really need to hear) rolls off the front 6 laps into a 100 lap criterium. Nobody shows interest in chasing after him, so his lead grows quickly. Soon, he is closing in on the back of the pack, about to lap the field. If he makes contact with the field, he will most assuredly win the race.
The field reacts by turning up the speed. He starts losing his lead. He loses all but 10 seconds of his lead.
The field almost caught him. He relaxed but didn't quit. The field came close to catching him, and then they relaxed.
Gerlach stayed on it, and his lead grew again. Many laps later, he almost caught the field again - drawing to within EIGHT seconds of him. And once again, they accelerated away from him.
Once again, he was almost caught. Eventually 7 riders bridged across the gap to him. A few laps later, they looked like they were going to get caught.
They didn't get caught. They sprinted for the win. 36-year-old Gerlach (I hope you clicked on that link and watched his story), off the front of the bike race for 95 laps, sprinted for 6th place. It wasn't hard to find the "most aggressive rider" this day.
Lemond and Armstrong both had great comeback stories. But this one is pretty damn cool, too.
This time around, I actually made it to the event and had a blast.
The Clarendon Cup on Saturday and the USAF Classic on Sunday.
Real quick story about the USAF event: you know when you see the Air Force jets do a fly-over precisely at the end of the National Anthem? How do they do that? Let me tell you. Once you know the time that the jet will hit "the mark", you back-time from there. Sound simple? Don't kid yourself.
Long story short, we nailed the fly-over. It was a beautiful thing. And the Air Force Memorial is worth visiting.The OTHER event on the weekend was the Clarendon Cup in which the wildest story unfolded in the Pro race.
Chad Gerlach (whose story that you really need to hear) rolls off the front 6 laps into a 100 lap criterium. Nobody shows interest in chasing after him, so his lead grows quickly. Soon, he is closing in on the back of the pack, about to lap the field. If he makes contact with the field, he will most assuredly win the race.
The field reacts by turning up the speed. He starts losing his lead. He loses all but 10 seconds of his lead.
The field almost caught him. He relaxed but didn't quit. The field came close to catching him, and then they relaxed.
Gerlach stayed on it, and his lead grew again. Many laps later, he almost caught the field again - drawing to within EIGHT seconds of him. And once again, they accelerated away from him.
Once again, he was almost caught. Eventually 7 riders bridged across the gap to him. A few laps later, they looked like they were going to get caught. They didn't get caught. They sprinted for the win. 36-year-old Gerlach (I hope you clicked on that link and watched his story), off the front of the bike race for 95 laps, sprinted for 6th place. It wasn't hard to find the "most aggressive rider" this day.
Lemond and Armstrong both had great comeback stories. But this one is pretty damn cool, too.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The Newest Flying Finn
By now, you know I'm a homer for the Great Lake State. And I'm the Upper Peninsula's biggest fan.
So here's my latest Yooper discovery: a frame builder in Marquette of all places.
Matt "Palo" Palomaki studied Mechanical Eng. at
Michigan State working with MSU's Composite Research
Lab. He worked at the GM Tech Center in the exciting world of
Powertrain Design, Marketing and Calibration. After graduating 3rd in his class
he moved on to a cake job Nissan's Technical Center as a Powertrain Calibration
Engineer. And now he's building frames in the U.P. That's quite a jump.
I had some questions for him:
1. Did your family think you were nuts for leaving a job with Nissan to start a bike company?
Matt - Yes, everyone including me. My career at Nissan was moving along quite nicely. The company was great to work for and I really enjoyed my job. The pay was great and the job was very challenging. I even lived in Japan for 3 months (while I was engaged to Angela, now my wife) to be trained on emissions controls. Then about 2 months before my last day I received a promotion ahead of schedule. My last day at Nissan, I was shaking I had so much anxiety. I said to myself about a million times . . ."What the @#$% am I doing???"
2. What makes your bikes special aside from being born in the U.P.?
Matt - If you have been up to Marquette then you know there is something special about the area. When customers come up to take delivery of a bike we usually go out on the trails that I use to help design and test my frames. The south trails in Marquette are some of the best in the country. The biking guys up here that developed the trail system really deserve all the credit. I just feel fortunate to have such a great place to use for r&d. The other part of what goes into my bikes is SISU. This is a Finnish word that doesn't have an exact translation to English but can be summed up by combining English words such as determination, spirit, resolve, courage, persistence, guts, tenacity, mettle, stubbornness, steadfastness, and perseverance. Growing up, my best friend's grandmother referred to sisu as "more guts than brains" ....in a good way of course. At times having sisu in your blood can get you into trouble but when applying it to a positive outlet like framebuilding you can get some of the most beautiful bikes that are easy on the eyes. My whole life I have been applying the principles of sisu to different situations in my life. . .as a youngster I started racing BMX at age 10. I trained my but off . . . .I remember my parents driving me 30 minutes 5 times a week to train on the closest BMX track. The training/practice paid off and I became a state champ at age 12. Then in my junior year of high school I took X-country skiing more seriously and applied the principles of sisu to my training. It paid off as I skied to a MI High School State Championship. At Michigan State I studied my but off to graduate 3rd in my class. Which, I felt was a huge accomplishment due to the fact that 90% of my time and energy when into Formula SAE. My senior year at State our Formula Team finished 3rd at the World Championships and we won the Road and Track Competition. Then at Nissan I again used sisu as a model for my career. Now, I figure what better way to acknowledge my Finnish heritage than to place it on the downtube of every frame I make. Each and every frame that I craft has heart, sweat, blood (sometimes), tears (usually), and SISU ingrained into the cuts, bends, braze and welds . . .that is what makes my frames special.
3. What has been the single coolest moment/event/reaction since you've been making frames?
Matt - The moments that stand out in my mind are when I unwrap a prototype frame from the paint shop and complete the build. Hours, days, weeks and sometimes years go into developing new frames. Sometimes, an idea is spawned and I immediately bring it to production, but usually new ideas mean new designs, new tooling, test, design, test, design, test, etc. So, when I deliver the first new design to a customer and he or she sees it for the first time, their reaction is always burned into my memory. I love riding with customers when they are on the bike for the first time when they come to grips with the performance (which I pride myself on) of the bike. It is a true feeling of accomplishment....there is nothing like it.
4. Why name them after Marquette county roads?
Matt - The local roads in Marquette offer a lot to the bike culture here. You are either road biking on the roads or the trails are located off of some of the roads. It is a special feeling when you are rocking out a ride with a SISU 550 on the trails that the bike was named after. Recently I have expanded the names of my frames to include other landmarks near Marquette such as Hogsback, Huron, etc.
4a. When will the 553 be coming out? I used to live on that road.
You need to make a 'cross bike and name it "the Crossroads". (<--- yes, that's me telling the locals what to do. Nice. Anyway, the Crossroads is literally just an intersection that everybody knows.)
Matt - The 553 is in the works. Its a 26" MTB full suspension with Reynolds 953 Stainless tubing. Yes the "Xroads" is definitely in the running for a cross frame. I'm diligently working to release a few cross frames this summer before the season starts.
5. What's your top speed coming down the hill by Marquette Mountain? (a mile long descent that appears out of nowhere inspiring the remark "I didn't know Michigan had hills that big."
Matt - I don't descend very well on a road bike. Right now I am 145lbs ringing wet. Going up the hill is much more enjoyable for me; although, I wanted to test the torsional rigidity of 2010 FF1 (Flying Finn) carbon road frame and the Marquette Mountain hill is the best place to do it when there is a strong swirling wind. I think I hit around 50mph by sprinting all out off the top and then going into a tuck. Turns out the bike is crazy stiff . . . 30% stiffer torsionally than last years FF1 and 25% stiffer in the bottom bracket.
6. Is there a name for that hill? (I've always called is Marquette Mt. There used to be graffiti on a rock at the top that read "Are you saved?" warning all those who descend too fast, I guess.)
Matt - The ski hill. This is where I do most of my hill workouts. I either do repeats on the road or up the service road on my mountain bike. Either is pretty tough. . .I would say the road is tougher in the spring because you can't bike on the shoulder due to the sand. This year a some dude in a truck ran me off the road, into the sand and almost hit me. I learned something really quick. . . for some reason 23c tires don't track well through 3" deep sand.
7. Where can people find you?
Matt - http://www.sisucycles.com
8. Give me your best Pasty recipe. What's it got in it?
Matt - I'm not much of a cook. I have 2 favorite pasty places in town. Lawrys and Jean Kays. If your in Marquette and want a pasty go to one of these places. WARNING: Eat pasties after the race and not before.
So here's a guy who saw a different life. Grabbed it. Left the corporate world behind. Moved to the ocean shore (Lake Superior). Now he's setting his own hours and doing what he wants to do. And he's making cyclists happy.
That's pretty freakin' cool.
So here's my latest Yooper discovery: a frame builder in Marquette of all places.
Matt "Palo" Palomaki studied Mechanical Eng. at
Michigan State working with MSU's Composite Research
Lab. He worked at the GM Tech Center in the exciting world of
Powertrain Design, Marketing and Calibration. After graduating 3rd in his class
he moved on to a cake job Nissan's Technical Center as a Powertrain Calibration
Engineer. And now he's building frames in the U.P. That's quite a jump.
I had some questions for him:
1. Did your family think you were nuts for leaving a job with Nissan to start a bike company?
Matt - Yes, everyone including me. My career at Nissan was moving along quite nicely. The company was great to work for and I really enjoyed my job. The pay was great and the job was very challenging. I even lived in Japan for 3 months (while I was engaged to Angela, now my wife) to be trained on emissions controls. Then about 2 months before my last day I received a promotion ahead of schedule. My last day at Nissan, I was shaking I had so much anxiety. I said to myself about a million times . . ."What the @#$% am I doing???"
2. What makes your bikes special aside from being born in the U.P.?
Matt - If you have been up to Marquette then you know there is something special about the area. When customers come up to take delivery of a bike we usually go out on the trails that I use to help design and test my frames. The south trails in Marquette are some of the best in the country. The biking guys up here that developed the trail system really deserve all the credit. I just feel fortunate to have such a great place to use for r&d. The other part of what goes into my bikes is SISU. This is a Finnish word that doesn't have an exact translation to English but can be summed up by combining English words such as determination, spirit, resolve, courage, persistence, guts, tenacity, mettle, stubbornness, steadfastness, and perseverance. Growing up, my best friend's grandmother referred to sisu as "more guts than brains" ....in a good way of course. At times having sisu in your blood can get you into trouble but when applying it to a positive outlet like framebuilding you can get some of the most beautiful bikes that are easy on the eyes. My whole life I have been applying the principles of sisu to different situations in my life. . .as a youngster I started racing BMX at age 10. I trained my but off . . . .I remember my parents driving me 30 minutes 5 times a week to train on the closest BMX track. The training/practice paid off and I became a state champ at age 12. Then in my junior year of high school I took X-country skiing more seriously and applied the principles of sisu to my training. It paid off as I skied to a MI High School State Championship. At Michigan State I studied my but off to graduate 3rd in my class. Which, I felt was a huge accomplishment due to the fact that 90% of my time and energy when into Formula SAE. My senior year at State our Formula Team finished 3rd at the World Championships and we won the Road and Track Competition. Then at Nissan I again used sisu as a model for my career. Now, I figure what better way to acknowledge my Finnish heritage than to place it on the downtube of every frame I make. Each and every frame that I craft has heart, sweat, blood (sometimes), tears (usually), and SISU ingrained into the cuts, bends, braze and welds . . .that is what makes my frames special.
3. What has been the single coolest moment/event/reaction since you've been making frames?
Matt - The moments that stand out in my mind are when I unwrap a prototype frame from the paint shop and complete the build. Hours, days, weeks and sometimes years go into developing new frames. Sometimes, an idea is spawned and I immediately bring it to production, but usually new ideas mean new designs, new tooling, test, design, test, design, test, etc. So, when I deliver the first new design to a customer and he or she sees it for the first time, their reaction is always burned into my memory. I love riding with customers when they are on the bike for the first time when they come to grips with the performance (which I pride myself on) of the bike. It is a true feeling of accomplishment....there is nothing like it.
4. Why name them after Marquette county roads?
Matt - The local roads in Marquette offer a lot to the bike culture here. You are either road biking on the roads or the trails are located off of some of the roads. It is a special feeling when you are rocking out a ride with a SISU 550 on the trails that the bike was named after. Recently I have expanded the names of my frames to include other landmarks near Marquette such as Hogsback, Huron, etc.
4a. When will the 553 be coming out? I used to live on that road.
You need to make a 'cross bike and name it "the Crossroads". (<--- yes, that's me telling the locals what to do. Nice. Anyway, the Crossroads is literally just an intersection that everybody knows.)
Matt - The 553 is in the works. Its a 26" MTB full suspension with Reynolds 953 Stainless tubing. Yes the "Xroads" is definitely in the running for a cross frame. I'm diligently working to release a few cross frames this summer before the season starts.
5. What's your top speed coming down the hill by Marquette Mountain? (a mile long descent that appears out of nowhere inspiring the remark "I didn't know Michigan had hills that big."
Matt - I don't descend very well on a road bike. Right now I am 145lbs ringing wet. Going up the hill is much more enjoyable for me; although, I wanted to test the torsional rigidity of 2010 FF1 (Flying Finn) carbon road frame and the Marquette Mountain hill is the best place to do it when there is a strong swirling wind. I think I hit around 50mph by sprinting all out off the top and then going into a tuck. Turns out the bike is crazy stiff . . . 30% stiffer torsionally than last years FF1 and 25% stiffer in the bottom bracket.
6. Is there a name for that hill? (I've always called is Marquette Mt. There used to be graffiti on a rock at the top that read "Are you saved?" warning all those who descend too fast, I guess.)
Matt - The ski hill. This is where I do most of my hill workouts. I either do repeats on the road or up the service road on my mountain bike. Either is pretty tough. . .I would say the road is tougher in the spring because you can't bike on the shoulder due to the sand. This year a some dude in a truck ran me off the road, into the sand and almost hit me. I learned something really quick. . . for some reason 23c tires don't track well through 3" deep sand.
7. Where can people find you?
Matt - http://www.sisucycles.com
8. Give me your best Pasty recipe. What's it got in it?
Matt - I'm not much of a cook. I have 2 favorite pasty places in town. Lawrys and Jean Kays. If your in Marquette and want a pasty go to one of these places. WARNING: Eat pasties after the race and not before.
So here's a guy who saw a different life. Grabbed it. Left the corporate world behind. Moved to the ocean shore (Lake Superior). Now he's setting his own hours and doing what he wants to do. And he's making cyclists happy.
That's pretty freakin' cool.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Tour de Libraries
Last weekend, the Michigan Notable Book program sent me to far off foreign lands to speak at libraries about Roadie - The Misunderstood yadee yada yada. As you can imagine, it's a bit of a dream assignment: stand in front of people and talk about bike racing.
The far off foreign lands weren't that foreign, to me anyway. Grayling, Escanaba, and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. You'll have to look them up on Google maps. They aren't the most popular cities in America, but I'd rather live in any of them than, say, Atlanta, San Diego, Seattle, Austin, or any of the hot spots. Three well-kept secrets kept out of the public eye because they're too far north and too cold for most.
Grayling has quite an outdoor sports scene going on. The Soo is so cool that one country couldn't hold it; it covers both sides of the border (that's a hint to you as to where it is). Escanaba is the least popular cool town on Lake Michigan.
Each library in each town rolled out the red carpet with spreads of food, displays of cycling stuff, and attentive audiences who asked a million questions about this quirky sport of ours.
My observations:
- there are a lot more knowledgeable cycling fans out there than we know.
- cycling attracts many different types of people - gear heads, speed freaks, pain mongers, etc.
- the Soo has an enthusiastic little cycling scene that is all heart. On Saturday morning, they held a short 12.7mile time trial to match the prologue of the Giro d'Italia. Had I not bent my chainring the day before, I would have ridden it and gotten my but kicked.
- there are cyclists in Escanaba cut off from civilization who were starved for stories from the outside world.
- the U.P. would be a great place for a short stage race.
I was particularly pleased to hear one library volunteer along the way say that she came expecting the topic to be boring. She's seen a lot of lectures on a million topics, and she thought cycling would be dry and boring. It can be (if you talk about mountain biking), but this is road cycling. And it's anything but boring.
A mighty big thanks to the three libraries and communities for coming out to support the Michigan Notable Tour. I hope they enjoyed their events!
My next trip to the U.P. is for the Superior Bikefest in Marquette in late-June. If you're within a day's drive, get there.
The far off foreign lands weren't that foreign, to me anyway. Grayling, Escanaba, and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. You'll have to look them up on Google maps. They aren't the most popular cities in America, but I'd rather live in any of them than, say, Atlanta, San Diego, Seattle, Austin, or any of the hot spots. Three well-kept secrets kept out of the public eye because they're too far north and too cold for most.
Grayling has quite an outdoor sports scene going on. The Soo is so cool that one country couldn't hold it; it covers both sides of the border (that's a hint to you as to where it is). Escanaba is the least popular cool town on Lake Michigan.
Each library in each town rolled out the red carpet with spreads of food, displays of cycling stuff, and attentive audiences who asked a million questions about this quirky sport of ours.
My observations:
- there are a lot more knowledgeable cycling fans out there than we know.
- cycling attracts many different types of people - gear heads, speed freaks, pain mongers, etc.
- the Soo has an enthusiastic little cycling scene that is all heart. On Saturday morning, they held a short 12.7mile time trial to match the prologue of the Giro d'Italia. Had I not bent my chainring the day before, I would have ridden it and gotten my but kicked.
- there are cyclists in Escanaba cut off from civilization who were starved for stories from the outside world.
- the U.P. would be a great place for a short stage race.
I was particularly pleased to hear one library volunteer along the way say that she came expecting the topic to be boring. She's seen a lot of lectures on a million topics, and she thought cycling would be dry and boring. It can be (if you talk about mountain biking), but this is road cycling. And it's anything but boring.
A mighty big thanks to the three libraries and communities for coming out to support the Michigan Notable Tour. I hope they enjoyed their events!
My next trip to the U.P. is for the Superior Bikefest in Marquette in late-June. If you're within a day's drive, get there.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Sault Ste Marie Tour Stop
Just a quick shot or two of the marquee in downtown Sault Ste. Marie. I'm here as part of the Michigan Notable Book tour, and this is what greeted me as I rolled into a town that most people can't find on a map:
A sure sign that cycling has gone mainstream.
More stories to come of the entire Michigan Notable Book tour.
Right now, I'm off to explore the U.P.
A sure sign that cycling has gone mainstream.
More stories to come of the entire Michigan Notable Book tour.
Right now, I'm off to explore the U.P.
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